CONTACT : +33 (0)5 63 32 88 88
CONTACT : +33 (0)5 63 32 88 88
In 1474, the Hundred Years’ War had just ended. The Viguier de Ricard brothers began constructing the Moulin de Moissac on the ruins of an old wooden mill that had just burned down. With its four millstones powered by the force of water, it quickly became the most important mill in the region. The Beaucaire family later acquired the mill and lent their name to the island across from it. Today, Île de Beaucaire is a natural reserve classified as “Natura 2000.”
From the mid-17th century to the 19th century, the mill expanded (to 36 millstones), becoming the largest mill in southwestern France. It produced excellent flour thanks to the wheat from Bas-Quercy, which arrived at its dock by barge. In 1916, during World War I and the Battle of the Somme, the mill burned down on the night of September 26-27. It never recovered and was left abandoned.
In 1932, during the Roaring Twenties, Moissac became a spa town where seaplanes landed on the Tarn River. The mill was transformed into a luxury hotel. However, with the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the hotel closed its doors.
The Moulin was placed at the disposal of Shatta and Bouli Simon, a young couple who were members of the Jewish Scouts of France. They hid and saved 500 Jewish children and entire families from Nazi barbarity. Thanks to the silence of the entire population of Moissac, not a single child was deported. After the war, Shatta and Bouli Simon transformed the Moulin into a living space and a technical high school, making it a place of reconstruction.
In the 1970s
The Moulin became a hotel once again, featuring a Michelin-starred restaurant and a nightclub where our current spa is located. Notable figures such as President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and actress Catherine Deneuve stayed there.
